Konami has been around since 1969, making it one of the oldest game developers in history, which helps explain the sprawling list of memorable titles they’ve graced fans with over the years. From bringing Frogger into the world in 1981, to their nearly unmatched collection of arcade hits, to the impressive array of console franchises that fans still clamor for to this day, there’s no denying the incredible impact they’ve made on the industry.
But while they’re still going strong today, Konami’s greatest streak may have been during the 16-bit era. During a time when video games were exploding with popularity, they managed to craft an eye-popping list of quality titles that made them stand out from the considerably large crowd. Many of these games are heralded as all-time greats, and even all these years later they remain worthy of such lofty labels.
7 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were so ubiquitous in the early 90s that there has probably been more than one occasion in which someone ate an entire meal of TMNT-licensed foods while decked out head to toe in TMNT gear and sat down to play a few good hours of Turtles in Time while listening to the Coming Out of Their Shells Tour on cassette tape.
Anyone who has done that has led an enviable life, especially considering that Turtles in Time might just be the best beat ‘em up ever created. It looks beautiful, it sounds awesome, the gameplay is wildly addictive, and there is just something unnaturally entrancing about those four green heroes on the halfshell that resonates with people the world over to this very day.
6 Super Castlevania 4
There were a few different top-tier Castlevania titles in the 16-bit era and there isn’t necessarily a clear-cut best of the best, but Super Castlevania 4 most certainly has an argument for it. It took everything that fans loved about the earlier entries (and none of the things they hated) and brought them all into the 16-bit world with shocking efficiency, elevating the series to a level that some might argue has never quite been matched.
There are plenty of other entries worth checking out (and more than a few to avoid) but anyone looking for the consummate Castlevania experience should strongly consider grabbing this title first.
5 Contra 3: The Alien Wars
The Contra series was Konami’s bread and butter in the late 80s and early 90s and its first foray into the 16-bit realm marked what was not only the best of its generation but probably the best in the history of the franchise.
With the white-knuckle action and explosion-laden screens of its predecessors cranked up to a 10 and a slew of petrifying oversized bosses awaiting challengers at the end of each beautifully designed, brutally challenging level, Contra 3: The Alien Wars reached the pinnacle of what this storied franchise has offered fans of run and gun mayhem for decades now.
4 Rocket Knight Adventures
Konami seemed to save most of their heavy hitters of the 16-bit years for the Super Nintendo, but it definitely didn’t leave Sega Genesis empty-handed. In fact, it gave fans of the rival console a brand new adventure that charts among the best platformers in the greatest platformer generation there ever was. It also brought them a short-lived but exceptionally cool new mascot to call their own.
Rocket Knight Adventures boldly took on the challenge of competing with both Mario and Sonic during the absolute heyday of their heated rivalry and brought players something that felt familiar yet fresh and made its own claim to greatness in the 16-bit side-scrolling world. It earned itself a sequel (that Super Nintendo fans also got to enjoy) but anyone who remembers this expertly crafted game will likely agree it deserved even more than that.
3 Gradius 3
The scrolling shooter genre was huge in the days of arcade gaming and Gradius was among the cream of the crop. Its third installation, Gradius 3, was ported to the Super Nintendo in America in 1991, giving fans of the challenging series a shot at making their way through its admittedly infuriating confines without having to spend their life savings in quarters. It may not have made things that much easier, but it still won the hearts of countless gamers.
The series continued forth somewhat quietly, but there were a few different great titles that followed. Some might argue that PS1’s Gradius Gaiden or PS2’s Gradius 5 is superior, but it’s unlikely that anyone will argue that III isn’t one of the best of the bunch.
2 Biker Mice From Mars
If it wasn’t already clear that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were at the pinnacle of pop culture during the early 90s, then taking a look at the dizzying number of imitators that cropped up around that time should do the trick. Shows like Street Sharks, Wild West Cowboys of M.O.O. Mesa, and Biker Mice from Mars may not have struck the same chord with the masses, but that doesn’t mean they had nothing to offer.
Biker Mice from Mars for Super Nintendo probably should have been another one of those awful licensed games that every kid begged their mom for and then instantly regretted, but it was somehow far from it. In the deft hands of Konami, this colorful, creative racer gave fans a surprising amount of alien rodent-based entertainment. Enough that there was a (nightmarishly bad) sequel made twelve years later for the PS2 and a well-reviewed mobile game released in 2015, nineteen years after the show’s final episode aired.
1 Sunset Riders
Many centuries before the video game world would fall into a dystopian wasteland crawling with aggressive extraterrestrials backed by an army of terrorists, the run-and-gun game was ruled by a group of super cool wild west bounty hunters named Billy, Steve, Bob, and Cormano. It’s not exactly canon that Contra and Sunset Riders are in the same universe, but they both exist in the Konami universe, so why not?
This co-op side-scrolling shooter first found fame in the arcades, but it was also a hit with Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo owners back in the early 90s. The gameplay is quite similar to Contra, only in an Old West setting, and with a world that’s a lot more vibrant and a lot less grim than the one waiting in 2633 A.D.